Scripture
God is not a man, that he should lie; He doesn’t change his mind like humans do. Has He ever promised, without doing what he said?
~Numbers 23:19, TLB
Quote
“I am a pencil in the hand of God.”
~Mother Teresa
The Greek word for preach is ka-rü’s-so which means to herald, to officiate as a herald, to proclaim after the manner of a herald with the suggestion of formality, gravity and authority. In the old days, kings didn’t have email, social media or a postal service to get their message out: they used humans. These messengers were known as heralds. When the king issued a decree, he was not making a suggestion: subjects were to respond with prompt obedience to the kings message. The LORD said to Ezekiel, “Son of dust, prophesy against the false prophets of Israel who are inventing their own visions and claiming to have messages from Me when I have never told them anything at all. Woe upon them! When the herald arrived with the message, he spoke not on his own behalf but on behalf of the one who sent him. As I pondered these verses in Ezekiel, I realized that preaching is a miracle. In a sense, all real sermons have one thing in common, they are inspired. If God does not speak to the preacher, the preacher has no message. If the king did not give a message to his herald, his herald had no message from the king. It is really simple and yet divine: for God to speak through me, He has to first speak to me. If He does not speak to me, I have nothing to say.
Let us use todays scripture text as an example: God is not a man, that he should lie; He doesn’t change his mind like humans do. Has he ever promised, without doing what he said? Do you agree with this statement? Do you think it is inspired? Do you know who made the statement? Was it Moses, Samuel, Ezra or David? Actually it was Balaam who is considered by most as a false prophet. I have never been able to find fault with Balaam’s theology but according to traditions and the NT references he had an inordinate love for money and he compromised his integrity for gain. He also betrayed Israel by telling Balak what the Israelites weaknesses were: idols and women. So he was flawed, deeply flawed and yet the verse above is inspired. I find this incredible. God not only spoke through Balaam, He spoke through his donkey. You do know the KJV word for donkey. I am absolutely amazed at the prophecies that came from David’s pen. Really, all scripture came to us by the way of inspiration: God speaking through men of clay. I’m telling you folks, it is a miracle. I will tell you something else: you do not have to like the herald or his appearance to get the message. God has spoken to me many times by using a preacher I didn’t like. God can even speak through a preacher who doesn’t like the people he is preaching to: remember Jonah.
Our good friend Bill Smith was promoted last night around 11:00 pm. Bill was a gentleman. He was a faithful and devoted husband and father. He loved his family and was a great support to the grand children. Bill was very knowledgeable on sports. He use to come early on Sunday morning and drink coffee with us before SS. I valued Bill’s opinion and I always enjoyed talking with him. He served on our personnel committee and was an easy man to work with. He was a faithful tither and there are not many of them. Bill Smith was loved and will be missed at GRACE POINT Baptist Church.
Congratulation to coach Tuberville on our victory last night. It was a win for the people. The coach will represent us, the middle class. The God-fearing, hard-working, gun-toting, tax-paying middle class. We don’t have time to protest and we don’t throw bricks through windows. We do not take what another man has saved or worked for. We are the class that the Washington elites are trying to destroy. The coach will stand up for us and he will help the president find the handle on the stinky toilet and give it a flush. He is not a lawyer or a politician: he is one of us. Now, we have to get him in and Jones out. Then we have to get Shelby out and replace him with someone younger. I know that congress will never vote for term limits but what about a mandatory retirement age like 75.